11/29/22 Hometown Broadcasting Sports Tuesday
29 November 2022 Sports
Tuesday Sports
From Wayne Mausser
Aaron Rodgers wants to keep playing through his growing list of injuries as long as the struggling Green Bay Packers still have a mathematical chance of reaching the playoffs.
The Packers’ postseason hopes remain alive, if only in the technical sense, after a 40-33 loss at Philadelphia on Sunday dropped their record to 4-8. Rodgers, already playing with a broken right thumb, left with injured ribs in the second half.
“I know he’s feeling better today,” Packers coach Matt LaFleur said Monday. “I think we’ll know more in the next couple of days.”
LaFleur said the Packers planned to continue relying on Rodgers if the four-time MVP is healthy enough to play.
“Aaron’s the starting quarterback,” LaFleur said. “He’s battled through a lot throughout the course of his career. It’s pretty well documented and I think he’s been able to play at a pretty high level through a lot of different situations. So again, we’ll take it one game at a time and make the best decision moving forward.”
Rodgers emphasized after the game he wants to keep playing as long as there’s any chance the Packers could still reach the postseason.
Philadelphia made the playoffs with a 9-8 record last season, so there’s the possibility a late surge could get the Packers back in contention. But it’s hard to imagine that kind of late run for a team that has dropped seven of its last eight games.
“There are obviously a lot of other conversations that come into play once you’re eliminated, and I’ll be open to all of those conversations,” Rodgers said after the game. “Pride comes to mind. Love of the game. But there’s other factors obviously that would come into play should we be mathematically eliminated.”
One of those factors is the chance for the Packers to get a closer look at 2020 first-round pick Jordan Love, who has made just one career start.
Love took over for the injured Rodgers and looked better than he had in any of his other sporadic appearances, going 6 of 9 for 113 yards and finding Christian Watson for a 63-yard touchdown.
“I felt a lot more prepared,” Love said after the game. “Like I say, it just comes down to reps, getting those reps and being comfortable executing those plays. So like I said, the more reps I can get, the more I can get in those situations, the more comfortable I’ll be.”
In Monday Night Football Pittsburgh won at Indianapolis 24-17. The Steelers (4-7) shutdown the Colts (4-7-1) in the first half and led 16-3 at the break. The Colts finally got the offense going in the third quarter and scored two touchdowns to take a 17-16 lead going into the fourth quarter. But then the Steelers defense took over again and the offense scored a touchdown and two-point conversion in the final quarter and then held on for the win. Pittsburgh’s rookie quarterback Kenny Pickett completed 20-28 passes for 174 yards and Benny Snell led the rushing attack with 62 yards on 12 carries and a touchdown. Najeh Harris rushed for the other score. Matthew Wright kicked three field goals for the Steelers. The Colts Matt Ryan was 22-34 for 199 yards, a touchdown and an interception. Former Wisconsin star Jonathan Taylor gained 86 yards on 20 carries and a scored on a two-yard touchdown run. Wide receiver Michale Pittman caught seven passes for 61 yards and a touchdown.
Wisconsin coach Luke Fickell spent much of his first day on the job speaking to his new players, knowing many of them had hoped this search would have a different outcome. His message to them was sympathetic but direct.
“Change is inevitable,” Fickell said Monday during a welcome event before his introductory news conference. “The growth is what’s optional. I’m willing to grow.”
Fickell posted a 57-18 record in six seasons at Cincinnati and helped the Bearcats earn a College Football Playoff Berth last year. He has Big Ten experience as a former Ohio State defensive lineman and interim head coach.
Yet his immediate challenge will be winning over a roster featuring many players who weren’t shy about saying they wanted this job to go to Jim Leonard, the former Wisconsin defensive coordinator who went 4-3 as the Badgers’ interim head coach after the Oct. 2 firing of Paul Chryst.
“We’ll all be growing together through this change,” Fickell said. “It’s never easy. It’s never easy, but the things that are easy aren’t what last. The things that are easy aren’t going to get us to where we want to go, to get us back to where we deserve and believe we need to be.”
Athletic director Chris McIntosh said Fickell will get a seven-year contract averaging $7.8 million per year.
Fickell, 49, takes over a Wisconsin program that hasn’t won a Big Ten title since 2012 and must win its bowl game to avoid its first losing season since 2001.
Wisconsin hasn’t indicated its staffing plans for the bowl game, though Fickell said he and Leonhard had started talking it over.
“I’ll be coaching in some way, shape and form,” Fickell said. “We’ll figure out what that means.”
Fickell has referred to Wisconsin as a destination job. He appreciated Wisconsin’s program while competing against it as a player and coach. He can’t wait to lead it.
“I’m incredibly excited to get started,” Fickell said. “We can’t get this thing rolling fast enough.”
In World Soccer Cup action the U.S. plays Iran today in Group B. The U.S. has 0-0-2 having tied Wales 1-1 and England 0-0.
Retired NFL quarterback Brett Favre is asking to be removed from a lawsuit by the state of Mississippi that seeks to recover millions of dollars in misspent welfare money that was intended to help some of the poorest people in the U.S.
An attorney for Favre filed papers on Monday saying the Mississippi Department of Human Services “groundlessly and irresponsibly seeks to blame Favre for its own grossly improper and unlawful handling of welfare funds and its own failure to properly monitor and audit” how organizations used the money.
“Including Favre in this lawsuit has had the intended effect — it has attracted national media attention to this case,” Favre’s attorney, Eric D. Herschmann, wrote in the filing in Hinds County Circuit Court.
Herschmann wrote that the lawsuit focuses on the welfare agency’s “false insinuations concerning Favre’s supposed involvement” rather than on the agency, “which in fact is responsible for allowing this scandal to occur.”
It was not immediately clear how soon Hinds County Circuit Judge Faye Peterson might consider the request.
Favre is not facing criminal charges. He is among more than three dozen people or companies being sued by the Mississippi Department of Human Services as it seeks to recover a portion of the money misspent in the state’s largest-ever public corruption case. The department filed the lawsuit in May, saying the defendants “squandered” more than $20 million from the Temporary Assistance for Needy Families anti-poverty program.
Boys Basketball (Mon.)
Campbellsport 71, Ripon 56
Waupun 85, Winnebago Lutheran 79
Saint Mary’s Springs 74, Central Wiscosnin Chrisitan 42
Mauston 51, River Valley 48
Horicon 54, Palmyra-Eagle 44
Fall River 85, Abundant Life/St. Ambrose 60
Boys (Tues.)
Wautoma at Berlin
Kewaskum at Omro
Germantown at Plymouth
North Fond du Lac at Winneconne
Beaver Dam at Portage
New London at Wausau East
Green Bay Southwest at Seymour
Appleton North at Shawano
Oshkosh West at Xavier
Weyauwega-Fremont at Pacelli
Tri-County at Marion
Wild Rose at Amherst
Appleton East at Marshfield
Appleton West at Wisconsin Rapids
Fond du lac at Sheboygan North
Notre Dame at Hortonville
Stevens Point at Neenah
Freedom at Clintonville
Fox Valley Lutheran at Waupaca
Little Chute at Oconto Falls
Montello at Nekoosa
Spencer at Westfield
Madison Country Day at Dodgeland
Rio at Valley Christian
Waterloo at Markesan
Watertown Luther Prep at Pardeeville
Girls Basketball (Mon.)
Adams-Friendship 72, Portage 16
Mauston 70, New Lisbon 39
Girls Basketball (Tues.)
Ripon at Kettle Moraine Lutheran
Winneconne at Kewaskum
Plymouth at Waupun
St. Mary’s Springs at Campbellsport
North Fond du Lac at Laconia
Omro at Lomira
Winnebago Lutheran at Mayville
Clintonville at Menasha
Wausau East at New London
Green Bay Southwest at Seymour
Shawano at Ashwaubenon
Weyauwega-Fremont at Port Edwards
Tri-County at Marion
Shiocton at Wild Rose
Oshkosh North at Appleton East
Kimberly at Appleton North
Appleton West at Kaukauna
Neenah at Fond du Lac
Hortonville at Oshkosh West
Marinette at Fox Valley Lutheran
Amherst at Freedom
Westfield at Waunakee
Baraboo at Wisconsin Dells
Central Wisconsin Christian at Oakfield
Dodgeland at Lourdes Academy
Horicon at Hustisford
Fall River at Cambria-Friesland
Markesan at Rio
Montello at Randolph
Pardeeville at Princeton/Green Lake
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